Amos Oz
Amos OzFlash 90

Sagi Kaisler, Chairman of the Shomron Residents' Committee, has filed an official police complaint with the Shomron Police District against Amos Oz Sunday over his comparison between Jewish extremists and neo-Nazis. 

"The words of [Oz], the writer, constitute a serious incident of incitement to racism," Kaisler stated to Channel 10 Sunday. "He deserves the Nobel Prize for Racism." 

"Following the precedent of Eliraz Fein, [the 22 year-old pregnant woman - ed.] who wrote similar statements in an internal mailing list for Yitzhar residents and was arrested, police cannot ignore the writer's grave incitement," he continued. "We believe he will be arrested in the coming hours." 

Gadi Dei, the Committee's Activities Coordinator, filed the complaint. 

"It seems like the police took it seriously," he noted. "According to the law, this is a serious case of incitement to racism." 

'Jewish Extremists are Monsters'

Oz's comments made headlines over the weekend, after he charged that the perpetrators of "price tag" attacks are equivalent to neo-Nazis - but with more political support. 

“I cannot stand to hear that term ‘price tag’, and even more so I can’t stand to hear the term ‘hilltop youth’,” Oz said at his 75th birthday celebration, according to Channel 2 News.

“It's time we look at this monster straight in the eye. ‘Price tag’ and ‘hilltop youth’ are just are sweet nicknames for a monster that is time to call by its name,” he continued, adding that those who carried out these vandalism attacks were “Jewish neo-Nazi groups.”

"There is nothing that the neo-Nazis in Europe do and these groups do not do,” charged Oz. “Time to call them by name. Perhaps the only difference is that the neo-Nazi groups enjoy the backing of quite a few nationalist, even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who have give them a pseudo-religious basis.”

Oz faced an enormous backlash, with many critics noting that 'price tag' attacks, which are a euphemism for nationalistically-motivated vandalism, only aim to hurt property - not people. The writer later defended his comments, by insisting that "neo-Nazis" and "Nazis" are not the same. 

"The comparison I made on Friday is to neo-Nazis and not to Nazis,” he said in an interview on IDF Radio. “Nazis erect crematoria and gas chambers. Neo-Nazis desecrate places of worship, beat innocent people and spray paint racist slogans. That is what our neo-Nazis do. I did not say Nazis.”